38 Studios Lays Off Entire Staff Today

The saga of 38 Studios took a sad turn today as the company announced that it has let go of all the remaining staff. While the company has not announced its closure or bankruptcy, it seems that those options are the only logical step left for 38 Studios at this point in time. Essentially, this seems to leave Rhode Island on the hook for up to $120 million in bond payments through 2020 and a couple hundred employees without a job. The layoffs cover both the core 38 Studios in Rhode Island and Big Huge Games in Maryland.

If there is one thing that could see some light at the end of the tunnel here is that Rhode Island does gain all the intellectual property of 38 Studios, which does include the Kingdoms of Amalur title that came out earlier this year, so they might see some residuals from that as well as the assets for Project Copernicus. Sadly though, I doubt there is much to be found on that project at this point in time.

Something tells me that this is not the end of this, as I am sure that the State of Rhode Island will be investigating 38 Studios and its board of directors on how this could have happened to the company. Stay tuned.